


A Way Home

by greenJeanKirstein



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fluff, I tried to make it as cute as possible, Implied Relationships, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, It doesn't get explicit but it has a lot of implied things going on, M/M, Noah Czerny is the cutest, Noah's a famous skater, Richard Gansey is a huge nerd, Whelk is so in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 04:11:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6141097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenJeanKirstein/pseuds/greenJeanKirstein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noah has left Henrietta for a long time after making it big as a skater, while Whelk has been stuck teaching in the little town. But after Noah gets an injury, Whelk sees someone he wasn't expecting in his first lesson of the day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Way Home

 

When Barrington Whelk walked through the hallways, heading to teach his first class of the day, he could hear excited young men talking about someone he knew quite well.

 

"Did you read the newspaper today? They had this interview with Noah Czerny!"

 

"Did they? Do they talk about his fall during last week's competition?"

 

"Yeah, man! He even said he'll be going back home to heal and rest! Do you think he'll come to Henrietta?"

 

Whelk could hear their excited voices mix into the mass of boys heading to class and joking around. He didn't need to hear more, as he had already read the article. Noah Czerny, one of the most known names in skateboarding had completely failed the ramp and had ended falling onto his face, and it had been broadcast live on TV. At least the fall had been graceful, Whelk mused.

 

He sighed. Noah Czerny was living the life and he was stuck there in Henrietta, in this damn school he was supposed to have left for good all those years ago. They had sort of kept in touch over the years, they had started studying at the same college after all. However, as soon as the video of Noah doing some tricks went viral and he got signed, Noah had dropped out and instead of becoming a psychologist, he became one of the most loved skaters of their day. Whelk had been bitter about losing his friend and had thought of cutting ties, but when Noah had gotten a facebook account, he had been the one to add Whelk to his friends list. Of course he had a fan page, which Whelk also followed, but Noah's private account had pictures that were more personal and cuter.

 

And of course Noah had sent Whelk a happy birthday card or posted a picture of Whelk from their teen years on his facebook page every time Whelk had a birthday. Whelk had done the same for Noah, once even posting a huge collage of Noah's teen years, which got so many likes that Whelk felt like a stupid Noah Czerny fanboy.

 

There was no time to think of Facebook and the pictures of Noah showing peace sign as he was trapped under a pile of clothes. Whelk had a class to teach. He didn't have time to think of Noah Czerny.

 

As he stepped into the classroom, he put on a polite smile, just like he always did.

 

"Salvete," Whelk greeted his students, putting his bag down and picking up the chalk to write down the day's subject and some words.

 

"Salve," most of the students mumbled back, but a sarcastic voice called out mockingly, "Bonum mane!" It was Ronan Lynch, of course, wishing everyone a good morning. Nobody else seemed to dare to mock the morning a few seconds into the lesson. Seven years ago Whelk had been like that as well. He had mocked the teachers and had joked with his friends in nearly all of his classes. Now it was just disrespectful and Whelk felt old and dull.

 

He continued writing, ignoring Ronan's remark. He could ask Ronan to translate a horribly boring passage later.

 

Noah Czerny was both home and away, both too early and too late. Henrietta was where he was from, but he hadn't been to his hometown for nearly five years. The city felt like home. It also felt like some sort of a distant memory at the same time. At this time in the morning Noah was too early to see the bars or the restaurants open, yet too late to properly surprise someone who once had made Henrietta home.

 

He checked his watch - 09:03 am. The schools had already started for the day and the last people were hurrying to work. An ordinary day in an ordinary city. Maybe a surprise visit would do the day some good.

 

Noah fixed his hair, straightened his snapback and turned his car's engine on. It was time to go back to school. Driving to Aglionby was easy - he remembered the way and the roads were clear from other cars. It took him only fifteen minutes to get to Aglionby and he found a parking spot near the entrance easily. Getting out of the car was the hard part. His left ankle still hurt a lot from the fall and when he stumbled out of the car, his skateboard in hand, he almost dropped it onto his foot.

 

He slipped past the front doors and then walked to the doors that lead into the gardens. There were no students around, which was good - Noah knew that he very of popular back in his hometown and he was sure that someone was bound to recognize him eventually. But for now he was hoping he could get to the language building and as he limped towards his old Latin classroom, he did his best to fix his hair under the hat. It was time to see his best friend Barrington Whelk again.

 

Ronan Lynch was a mouthy jerk, but he was good in Latin, Whelk had to give him that. The text he had told Ronan to translate for the rest of the class was the beginning of Aeneas and Ronan had first been quiet for a while, then started to read it in English fluently - like he was just reading an easy book for fun. His voice was monotone and he didn't look up from the paper, just continued reading until a knock was heard.

 

"Yes? Come in." Whelk said, motioning for Ronan to pause for a while.

 

A student who wasn't wearing his uniform, but instead a pair of tight jeans, a graphic t-shirt that had so many colours that Whelk almost had to do a double take, and a snapback that flattened his hair so that it covered most of his face walked in and smiled, resting his skateboard against his hip.

 

"Who's that?" someone whispered to their deskmate and he answered with, "I don't know, but why isn't he wearing his uniform? He's going to get into so much trouble!"

 

The boy was right. Whelk was already slightly upset because of Ronan Lynch and his taunting way of reading Aeneas and now this kid showed up to class, fifteen minutes late, not wearing his uniform. As soon as Whelk got his name, he was going to drag the guy to the principal's office and get him at least a week of detention. Nobody could be that stupid to show up in his class without a uniform.

 

Alright, so maybe when he’d gone to school him and his friends had showed up without a uniform once or twice. Czerny had thought it was a fun idea and so for April's Fools they wore their jeans and matching T-shirts to classes. It had been fun and their teachers had understood that it was a joke to celebrate the first of April. But this, the student being late and on top of that not decently dressed for school, was not a joke and not funny.

 

So Whelk crossed his arms, arching a brow as he waited for the student to explain. "Why are you late?" He asked, moving his chin slightly to gesture at the clothes. "And where is your tie?"

 

The guy grinned and took off his hat, ruffling his hair, pushing the strands of blond hair out of his eyes. "Got stuck in traffic." He shrugged apologetically and smiled, watching Whelk's face turn from angry to confused to surprised in a matter of seconds. The guy kept smiling and put his hat back on, this time putting it backwards so that his face was visible along with the huge bruise on his cheek and nose. Whelk knew that face, he knew it very well, had seen it every morning for years and during all of the sleepless nights he had had in high school.

 

He wasn't the only one who knew that face though.

 

"What is Noah Czerny doing here!?"

 

"Oh god, is he here to give autographs? I need his autograph!"

 

"I thought he had broken his leg, how can he walk?"

 

Noah leaned against the doorframe and only seemed to have eyes for Whelk. His smile turned wider and he quickly looked around the classroom. "Do you mind if I borrow your teacher for a minute?" He asked the students and the students who could still function: Richard Gansey III,- who did not know who Noah Czerny was; Adam Parrish, who was too polite to answer rudely; and Joseph Kavinsky, who was too high to even notice anything reacted. They nodded, diving back into their textbooks, and in Kavinsky's case, into a little pile of something white that looked like pencil shavings.

 

"I don't think they mind," Noah told Whelk, the skin around his eyes crinkling in joy. Whelk looked around in his class and then sighed, as he walked towards Noah, making shooing motions at him, wanting him to get to the hallway already. "Continue translating, mr. Lynch. When I get back I will ask some questions about what you just translated."

 

Noah waved the students goodbye and stepped out into the hallway, humming as Whelk pulled the door close behind them.

 

"What are you doing here?" Whelk almost hissed, trying to keep the excitement of seeing Noah out of his voice. "I have lessons!"

 

Noah shrugged again, being so nonchalant like he always seemed to be. "Everyone knows I'm back in Henrietta. I wanted to see you," he looked around to make sure nobody was in the hallway, or trying to peek at them from the classroom. There was nobody around but them and none of Whelk's students were trying to listen in on their conversation. Noah seemed to be okay with the silence and took a step closer.

 

Whelk studied Noah’s face and he let it happen. The bruise seemed extraordinary and spectacular this close, just like Noah's bright eyes and his lips, still twitched up in a smile. It had been a while since Whelk had seen him that close.

 

It had been even longer since he had felt Noah's lips against his own, but they felt just like they did all those years ago - firm, slightly chapped and definitely more experienced that Whelk had thought they would be.

 

Noah pulled back and smiled, tilting his head slightly to look at Whelk who was definitely blushing. "What?" He asked, taking off his hat to ruffle his hair slightly. Whelk kept looking at him and then held up his hand. "Give me a minute, will you?"

 

As he always did  when Whelk asked him for a bit of time, Noah nodded and leaned against the wall, watching Whelk go into the classroom. He had all the time in the world until his face and his ankle healed.

 

The classroom was silent apart from Ronan Lynch's monotone voice making a comment saying something about 'bunch of old men doing their best not to drown'. He looked up, voice quieting as Whelk entered, but after being told to continue, he did so. Whelk went to his desk and took his suitcase, then coughed to get the students' attention again. "Something very important came up. I'm afraid I'll have to cancel the class. Mr Lynch, if you'd be so kind to finish translating that passage for your classmates. There will be a pop quiz next lesson,"

 

A hand shot up and Whelk nodded to Richard Gansey, hoping that the question didn’t have anything to do with the famous blond skater waiting out in the hallway. "Sir, it's not a pop quiz, if you tell us about it," he pointed out and Whelk just looked at him, then shook his head, sighing. "No, I guess not. Simply a test then. Good day."

 

He met up with Noah in the hallway and together they walked towards the exit - Noah was still limping and it took him quite a bit of time to move. Whelk didn’t mind though, he used the time to reorder his thoughts and his feeling about Noah Czerny. It had been three years since they had last seen face to face and that had been at Whelk's graduation. Seeing Noah skate or give interviews on TV was nothing like seeing him again.

 

Barrington Whelk was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice Noah moving closer until Noah wrapped his arm around his waist and grinned. He did not notice most of his students rushing to the window to watch the two of them leave either.

 

"How does our lame teacher know Noah Czerny?" Henry Cheng asked Gansey and Adam as the three of them stood by the window, watching how Whelk took slow steps to make sure Noah could keep up the pace.

 

"I really have no idea?" Adam mumbled, narrowing his eyes when he saw Noah stumble closer to Whelk. His eyes went from being narrowed to wide, just like Gansey's when they saw Noah Czerny slide his arm around their teacher's waist. Soon enough, before the men could fully leave their line of sight, their Latin teacher put his hand into the back pocket of Noah Czerny's jeans. "...Oh..." Gansey mumbled, cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

 

Ronan, who had still been translating with a monotone voice, finished and threw the pages of Aeneas across the room, leaned back on his chair and put his feet on the table. "Whatever. We have a free period and I'm not going to spend it thinking about Whelk or his blond boyfriend."

 

The others agreed, except for Kavinsky who gave a lazy grin, mumbled something and then passed out.

 

 

* * *

 

 

For once Whelk was glad that he’d left his car home and had used Henrietta’s shitty public transport. He had no problem getting into Noah's Mustang and not worrying about leaving his car back at the school. And what a car it was... It almost purred under Noah's touch as he turned the engine on.

 

"Where do you live?" Noah asked, turning to look at Whelk for a while, his face happy and smiling. From the little they had communicated over the years, Noah knew that Whelk was still living on his own and that he had had a pet, but the cat he had adopted had ran away and had been lost forever. Whelk did not miss it, but Noah reminded him why he had named his cat Czerny. Both of them were cute when they wanted to be, and always got what they wanted in the end.

 

Whelk told him where he lived and gave him some directions, which Noah took with a little nod. He asked Whelk a couple of questions; how he was doing; how he liked it in Henrietta after all those years and Whelk answered, mostly with shrugs and little grunts.

 

There were so many things he wanted to ask Noah He wanted to know how Noah was dealing with his injuries, if his ankle hurt, if he needed some ice for his nose. He needed to know why Noah had showed up right then, why he had kissed him and if Noah still had feelings for him.

 

All he asked was, "How long are you staying?"

 

Noah laughed, shrugging slightly as he took a right on a corner with a little organic food market.

 

"A week, two. Maybe more, it really depends on how well the healing goes. I'm not supposed to move my foot much, but I'd rather have it heal a bit longer than to be stuck in bed, you know what I mean, yeah?"

 

Whelk supposed he had a point there. He had known Noah since they were freshmen in high school and he couldn't recall even one time where Noah was able to sit still for more than an hour. Maybe it would be best to have Noah on the move so he wouldn't have to think of his injuries.

 

He had been staring at Noah, which the blond noticed and his smile grew. "Missed me, hm? You can't take your eyes off of me." Whelk looked away quickly, a pink tint covering his cheeks. It wasn't like he hadn't missed Noah, but Noah Czerny was.. Noah Czerny; one of a kind, funny, utterly, perfectly beautiful and he had a smile that Whelk had always loved.

 

"It's alright if you did," Noah said before Whelk could confirm that he indeed had missed Noah and hearing his voice, "I missed you too."

 

Whelk's cheeks were so pink he hoped they didn't drive by anyone he knew.

Although he was still slightly flustered by the time they got to his apartment, Whelk did his best to be a good host. He opened the door to his apartment and tried not to feel too ashamed of his home. Whelk and Noah both knew that Whelk had needed to to build himself up from the ground after the whole affair with his father, but still Whelk felt like his humble, tiny home was not enough for Noah Czerny who had allegedly bought a huge mansion for himself a year or so ago.

 

"Quaint," Noah said, looking around the place, eyeing the few pictures hanging on the walls and the painting that Whelk had done for an art course he had taken in college. He pointed at it and arched a brow, as if asking _'What’s this?'_

 

Whelk ran a hand through his hair and instead of answering led Noah to the kitchen. "Had to decorate the place somehow," he mumbled, quickly checking if he had any food in the fridge that he could serve Noah or anything that he could use to make into a meal. "So uh, want any lunch?"

 

Noah just looked at his watch and chuckled, holding his hand up so that Whelk could see the time. "It's 10 in the morning, Whelk."

 

His own stupidity made Whelk blush. Of course it was only 10 am, of course it was too early for lunch. He did his best to make up for his mistake, taking out some eggs and turned to look at Noah. "Brunch, then?"

 

"Brunch sounds fine, thank you."

 

It had been years since Barrington Whelk had cooked brunch or any kind of food for Noah Czerny. Last time he had served breakfast for his best friend was when they were still in college and Noah had been too lazy to fix himself some breakfast. Whelk had cooked him breakfast, Noah had eaten it after thanking Whelk and had then continued sleeping. At least this time he didn't have to be afraid that Noah was going to fall asleep on him again. He seemed awake enough.

 

When the pan was hot, Whelk cracked the eggs and let them simmer in the oil. He knew how Noah liked his eggs so he tried his best to make sure the eggs weren't too well done. Truth be told, Whelk still remembered a lot of things that Noah liked. He remembered that Noah liked sleeping under two blankets in the winter because his hands and feet got cold easily, he knew that Noah loved to eat chocolate pudding when he was stressed and didn't feel like cooking; Whelk could even recall how  early in the morning Noah would grumble and groan like a little kid, but as soon as he held his favourite mug with coffee in his hands, there was nothing more beautiful than the little sleepy smile he had.

 

"Do you remember we used to do this every day?" Noah's voice woke him from his thoughts.

 

"Do what?" Whelk checked the eggs; not quite right yet. He had been kind of lost, and still was a bit confused about the whole thing so he wasn’t sure if Noah was talking about the brunch or the two of them just hanging out.

 

Noah slowly got up from his seat, while humming. "You know, all this. The food and all, just hanging out," he went to Whelk and gently wrapped his arms around Whelk's waist, feeling how the man flinched, but then relaxed against him. Taking it as a good sign, Noah leaned even closer and put his head on Whelk's shoulder. Thank God Whelk hadn't had a strange growth spurt. He felt Whelk breathe a few times before asking, "Noah...What are you doing?"

 

Even though he could've explained with words, Noah really did not want to, not when he could get his point across with actions instead. He pressed a feather-like kiss onto the nape of Whelk's neck, then another where Whelk's right shoulder met with his neck. His reaction had gotten better - while Whelk flinched when Noah wrapped his arms around him, this time he hummed slightly and sighed, but it looked like he was enjoying the kisses.

 

"Noah..." Whelk mumbled, keeping his attention on cooking the egg. He had missed Noah's touch, he really had, but this sort of gentle cuddling in the kitchen seemed too domestic and affectionate.

 

Noah simply leaned down again, pressing his lips against the warm skin, leaving kiss after kiss after kiss. "I missed you," he said, pausing the kissing for a moment, to place one of his hands onto Whelk's stomach, right where he had put his hand so many times in the past to calm his best friend down.

 

Just like all those times before, Whelk placed his left hand onto Noah's and stood still, he was calming down, and accepting that they were both there and that Noah had him, that he was safe and warm and secure in Noah's arms. There was nothing more what he wished for in that moment.

 

That was until Noah pulled away and nudged Whelk with his hip, trying to get close to the stove. His stomach made a loud noise and the egg was ready. Whelk shook his head with a little smile, letting Noah do as he wanted, while Whelk got him a plate and a glass so that Noah could eat.

 

"How's your foot?" Whelk asked carefully as they sat on the couch, some random TV show playing in the background, but completely forgotten as Whelk only had eyes for Noah and Noah's attention was fully on him. Even as they were sitting, Noah leaning against Whelk. There were so many unanswered questions that both of them had for the other. One by one they went through the questions and there were still some they had yet to ask.

 

Noah looked at his foot, wrapped in white bandage and slightly swollen. "It's not hurting when I sit, but when I walk it's... It's not the greatest." He shrugged it off and instead looked at the TV for a bit, arching a brow at the tv show. There was no need to watch TV when Whelk was so close to him. "I'm alright," he assured Whelk, looking back at his friend and then smiled, patting his cheek affectionately. "Don't worry about me, Barry."

 

Whelk rolled his eyes, but he, too, was smiling. "Don't call me Barry, Czerny."

 

Being called by his last name made Noah laugh and he laid down, putting his feet on the armrest and putting his head into Whelk's lap. He reached for the remote control and clicked through different channels, stopping when he reached one that had a movie, which looked like it has just started. Noah looked up at Whelk and arched a brow, as if asking if the movie was alright, to which Whelk hummed and nodded, not minding a movie. As Noah watched it, sometimes chuckling, sometimes sighing slightly, Whelk reached over for his suitcase and pulled out some of the tests he still had to grade. He put the papers onto the coffee table, then took his reading glasses out and carefully placed the black rimmed glasses over his nose.

 

Even before he could really focus on the first paper to grade - Adam Parrish's beautiful handwriting didn't need much focus as it was legible and well-spaced - Noah snorted and poked his nose, nudging the edge of his glasses. "What are those, Whelk?"

 

Whelk looked from the paper to Noah who had a mischievous smile on his face. He had seen that sort of smile many, many times before so he smiled as well, taking off his glasses and offering them for Noah to try on.

 

"I have to use them when marking tests. Sometimes these kids have tiny handwriting." He explained while Noah put on the glasses and tried to look around with them. The glasses were quite weak so he could still see, which made Noah roll his eyes. "They're not as strong as I thought. Lame."

 

He gave Whelk his glasses back and laid his head back onto Whelk’s lap, turning his head back to the TV, continuing to watch the movie. Whelk simply went back to marking and grading the tests. It was a boring albeit sometimes oddly amusing job: most of the time the grades were based on gap tests or translating sentences so it was hard to make many mistakes that would make Whelk smirk or laugh; grading little stories, however, was always a nice way to spend an evening. Sometimes he let the students choose their own topics, but ever since Ronan Lynch had written a full page about cars, using so many descriptive words that it made Whelk's head hurt, he had began assigning topics the students had to choose from.

 

Marking them did not take much time and grading took even less. As per usual, Lynch and Parrish, the two students who could probably speak Latin in their sleep, got perfect scores and the rest followed. Whelk usually didn't fail his students, just because he did not want to do overtime or one-on-one study sessions. He finished grading the last paper and set them aside, looking at Noah.

 

Noah's head was still in Whelk's lap, but his eyes were closed and his mouth was slightly open as he slept. His blond hair was falling into his eyes and almost tickling his nose, but before that could wake him, Whelk gently brushed the strands away. Noah looked as beautiful as he did when Whelk had first seen him all those years ago. Even now, with a huge bruise and a few wrinkles on his face, he was utterly, perfectly beautiful.

 

Whelk smoothed down Noah's hair some more, but his hair was so soft and Noah seemed to sleep better when his hair was touched, so Whelk kept doing it, kept running his fingers through Noah's hair. Soon it was an automatic gesture of friendship and goodwill as he watched whatever movie was playing on his TV. Even if he had questions about their relationship that they needed to address, it could wait - Noah getting some rest was more important right now than any concerns he might have.

 

When Noah woke, it was still bright outside so he concluded he had not slept for a long time. There was a hand in his hair, playing with it and smoothing it down - Whelk must've stayed with him. Noah opened one eye at first, then the other, grinning widely when he could see Whelk watching TV.

 

Whelk's long fingers ran through his hair once again and stopped near his ear. With a little yawn, Noah turned to face Whelk's hand and then nuzzled against the palm of it, smiling as the warm hand froze for a second and then gently rubbed against his cheek.

 

"You're not gonna hurt me, Whelk," Noah said with another yawn, continuing to rest the bruised side of his face on the hand. Even if his bruise did look awful, so many shades of purple and yellow running from his ear to his nose, it didn't hurt as much as people thought it would.

 

For a while it seemed that Whelk was still unsure about touching Noah's face, but then he brushed his thumb over the bruise and sighed, looking down at his fragile companion. Noah was still sleepy, eyes half shut, and Whelk smiled back at the lovely sight in front of him.

 

"You know, I do have a bedroom. If you're tired you can go lie down."

 

Noah's eyes widened and he sat up. "Are you inviting me to bed with you?" He asked, delight filling his voice. "I've been waiting for you to take initiative since you climbed onto me in that car seven years ago." Noah's lips twisted into a smile and he leaned closer to Whelk who seemed unsure about everything. Before Whelk could back out, Noah pressed his lips against Whelk's cheek and then covered Whelk's lips with his own.

 

Trapped between Noah and the couch, Whelk had no other option than to kiss back, as if he would've wanted to do anything else. He had waited long enough for this, had dreamed of Noah and his touch in his sleep. He had even spent lonely nights imagining Noah next to him or on him and inside of him.

 

Noah's kisses were eager and his hands made quick work of the buttons of Whelk's shirt. When Whelk wrapped his arms around Noah's waist and pulled him closer, the blond let out a very excited groan. To make Whelk groan as well, Noah deepened the kiss, one of his hands sliding down Whelk's torso and into his pants then.

 

"Ah, fuck, Czerny!"

 

Noah pulled his hand away right after the words had left Whelk's mouth. "...No?" He asked, sounding embarrassed, shy and apologetic. Whelk shook his head and Noah began getting off his lap, but Whelk reached for his hand. "Not here. Bedroom."

 

Noah's eyes lit up again and he got up, pulling Whelk up as well. "Bedroom sounds like a good idea. The best." He looked around, not sure which door led to the bedroom. "Uh, which way?"

 

Whelk laughed, smiling and pulled Noah into another kiss before walking to his bedroom, arm around Noah's waist. He still couldn't believe how Noah was excited to see his home or to see him, but he was not going to argue. Instead, Whelk thought, as Noah ushered him to the bed and began stripping, he was going to give Noah at least a few more reasons to stay in Henrietta.

 

* * *

 

 

The next day Whelk woke at six thirty, as usually, and turned to his side, as he did every day, to turn off his alarm clock. Instead of just seeing the end table and the alarm clock, he saw Noah Czerny's sleeping face and him hugging a pillow close. Not wanting to wake Noah, Whelk got up from the bed and only smoothed some of Noah's hair out of his eyes.

 

He showered and turned the coffee machine on, then went to pick some clothes that he would wear for the rest of the day. As he was pulling on his pants, a soft groan came from the bed and when he turned to look, Noah was rubbing his eyes to get them to open more than a few millimetres. Whelk chuckled, watching how Noah stretched and wiggled under the covers and then sat up.

 

"Where are you going?" Noah inquired, sleep still clouding his voice. Whelk stopped for a second, then looked at Noah as he zipped up and then pulled on a clean white shirt. "Some of us have work, Noah, work that requires us to wake up early." To soften his answer and him having to leave Noah alone, Whelk went to the bed, buttoning up his shirt, then leaned down to press a soft kiss against Noah's cheek.

 

Noah tried to pull Whelk onto the bed for some cuddling, but Whelk danced away, stepping away to put a tie on."Can't you skip and-" Noah yawned loudly, then continued with his wish, "stay in bed with me? It's only like seven in the morning."

 

The sound coming from the kitchen indicated that the coffee was ready and Whelk sighed, looking at Noah, then to the kitchen. As much as he wanted to stay in bed, he really had to go to school and had to give the students their tests back and...

 

"Please?" Noah gave Whelk his best puppy face and pushed his bottom lip out a bit, trying to look as adorable as possible. He kept looking at Whelk and then smiled, laying back onto the bed when Whelk started unbuttoning his shirt. "I'll make it up to you, I swear," Noah promised and waited patiently for Whelk to get back to bed, hugging him close when he did.

 

Whelk rolled his eyes, but let Noah hug him, not refusing a little kiss that Noah placed onto his cheek. He did not object to Noah rolling onto him, kissing him and then leaving little kisses on his way as he disappeared under the cover, on his way to make sure Whelk's morning started well and that he did not leave the bed any time soon.

 

The teacher had been late for ten minutes when the principal walked into the Latin classroom and announced that Barrington Whelk had a sore throat and a bit of a cold, and that he wouldn't be coming to teach the class. The reaction the announcement got was mostly uninterested cheers and bored groans, but a few students seemed to feel personally touched by their teacher not showing up.

 

Joseph Kavinsky declared that he was going to not show up to the next Latin lesson to make it fair; Ronan threw a paper plane at Kavinsky and then smirked, looking at his friends. Adam just shrugged and then continued doing the homework for the next day, always eager to get ahead with schoolwork. Richard Gansey, however, was not happy about having some free time before their next lesson. He groaned and looked at his expensive watch. "Great. I needed to ask him about my paper and now he's not coming. I cannot believe this!"

 

He huffed, turning to his friends and Ronan shrugged. "Relax, Gansey, it's probably the first time in years that Whelk got laid." He threw another plane at Kavinsky and laughed when it hit Kavinsky's face. Kavinsky just flipped him off and continued talking to his friends. Adam only looked up from his work when he was done, then nudged Gansey's thigh. "Don't worry about it, if you need any help in Latin, I'll help you. Or Ronan will, right, Ronan?"

 

"Whatever."

 

Instead of spending their time in a smart way, Ronan dragged the two of them to get some coffee and a second breakfast. They drove to a little cafe and Gansey paid for their sandwiches and their coffees. As they sat down to eat, Gansey heard a familiar voice say, "-tomorrow. But today is our day. We still have a lot of catching up to do."

 

He turned to look over his shoulder, and Adam and Ronan did so too, not all surprised to see their teacher with the famous skater. What surprised them was how close the two men were sitting and how Whelk's arm was around Noah Czerny's waist while Noah Czerny fed their teacher ice cream. The situation was domestic and public at the same time, almost adorable. Both of the men were smiling, Whelk eating every bite Noah fed him and Noah giving Whelk little kisses every once a while.

 

"We should go," Adam suggested, a smile on his lips and he got up, leaving the cafe, his friends following behind. The last that they saw of their teacher was how Whelk leaned closer so that he could kiss Noah's nose, and how Noah laughed, cheeks slightly pink.

 

Even Gansey understood that sometimes it was necessary for the teachers to skip classes as well.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to thank Louise for editing this fic. You can find her on tumblr [ right here](luckylouise.tumblr.com)
> 
> I am also on tumblr [and you can find me here](vicvandal.tumblr.com)


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